Feathers
by Chrmdpoet
Summary: "I'm not sick," Tamsin told her, sighing. "I'm molting." Bo froze at that, her face scrunching and her mouth moving wordlessly for several seconds. "O-oh," she finally stammered out. "Um…like a bird?"
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is just a quirky, fluffy, and hopefully funny, little story that came to me. It will be a three-shot when completed. Enjoy! XO-Chrmdpoet**

Feathers

"Tamsin, I hope you're hungry, because I just got enough Chinese food to feed a whole Fae army," Bo called as she stepped into the abandoned building that now only she and the Valkyrie called home. She stopped short, though, when she noticed something odd about the place.

Bo quickly carried the bags of food over to the kitchen table and set them down. She then turned to scoop up one of several large gray feathers that sporadically littered the floor.

"What the hell?" she muttered to herself as she turned the feather over in her hands and rubbed her fingers along its soft surface. Her brows furrowed as she noticed that the feathers seemed to trail toward the stairs, and then Bo's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She reached under the kitchen table for the sword she kept hidden there, latched to the underside of the table. "Tamsin?" she called again as she cautiously made her way toward the stairs.

No response.

Bo's heart began to race. The hair on the back of her neck stood at attention, and her flesh prickled with her unease. She didn't like the silence. It always felt too thick, like all the air had somehow been sucked from the room and she was just waiting for the breath in her lungs to leech out and leave her helpless, on the edge of disappearing. The silence had been too much for too long now, ever since Hale…since Kenzi.

Only one thing seemed to truly dull the ache, one person.

Bo's stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought that Tamsin might be in danger or wounded. Her heart clenched in her chest. Her throat closed to the point of making her choke on her own saliva. If anything happened to Tamsin, she wouldn't…Bo didn't think she would be able to survive it.

She shook her head quickly to clear away the daunting thoughts. Panicking now would help no one, and Bo had to remind herself that it wasn't over until it was over. Not only that, but Tamsin was strong, the strongest person Bo had ever met. She wouldn't go down easily.

Bo crept up the stairs, her boots dusting over a continuous trail of feathers, and inched toward the bedroom she had been sharing with the Valkyrie for nearly a full year now. She never would have guessed all the ways she and Tamsin fit together, but they did. They fit in ways that Bo had never been able to with Dyson or even Lauren. They fit in ways that made Bo feel like maybe they were made for one another, molded to suit one another's bodies to perfection; designed to fold into one another, flesh on flesh, and fingers laced together like strings of fate. They just fit.

"Unless you're planning to stab me, you should probably stop creeping around with a sword."

Bo's face scrunched in confusion as she relaxed from her defensive stance and let the sword fall to her side. "Well, you didn't answer when I called," she replied dryly, moving to set the sword down on the trunk in the corner. She couldn't see Tamsin clearly, but she knew the blonde was in their bed. The dark crimson canopy had been let down, and it cascaded around the bed to obscure the person within.

"What's with the feathers?" Bo asked, glancing around the floor. "Did you get in a fight with a pillow?"

She snorted at her own little joke, but Tamsin didn't say a word, not even to make fun of her. That sent up a red flag.

"Why are you in bed?" Bo asked her, concern evident in her voice. "And why is the canopy down? Are you hiding?"

She heard Tamsin's heavy sigh, quickly followed by an irritated grumble of "Yes."

Bo inched nearer the bed. She softened her voice as she asked, "Why?"

"I just _am_," Tamsin bit out, and Bo saw the shadow of the blonde's movement through the canopy. The Succubus reached to pull the material aside, but stopped when Tamsin quietly said, "Please don't."

Bo shifted awkwardly from foot to foot as she hovered outside Tamsin's makeshift hideaway. She wasn't exactly sure what to do. Tamsin was particular about the way she processed and dealt with things, which Bo sometimes struggled with. The Valkyrie liked to deal with things in solitude. She wasn't the stroke-my-hair-and-feed-me-ice-cream type, and Bo had spent the last year learning how to read Tamsin's mood swings and properly assess how to react. It wasn't always easy.

"Um…I got Chinese food," Bo said after a moment, biting her lip and wringing her fingers together. "You said you've been craving it, so I figured I'd treat you. I even got those little—"

"Just go away, Bo," Tamsin muttered, her voice tinged with despair.

Bo's heart clenched at the sound. "Tamsin," she said softly, hovering one hand over the canopy. "Will you at least tell me what's wrong?"

Silence followed, stretching out for several long moments. Bo sighed, assuming she wasn't going to get an answer. "Okay," she whispered, turning to leave the room. "I'm here if you need me." She then made to leave the room, but just as she reached the doorway, she heard Tamsin's voice quietly call out.

"I don't want you to see me right now."

Bo hesitated, lingering in the doorway, before turning back. "Why not?" she asked, hoping Tamsin would open up a bit and talk to her. The Valkyrie was always so closed off when she was upset about something, though she had grown by leaps and bounds in the year that she and Bo had been together, growing and falling into one another, into love. Still, she had a tendency to throw up her walls whenever she felt the slightest bit vulnerable. Bo didn't mind, though. She always took the time to help knock them down again. She always would.

"I'm ugly."

Bo smiled tenderly. "Oh honey," she replied, chuckling softly, "you and I both know that that isn't true. You are beautiful."

"You wouldn't say that if you could see me," Tamsin croaked, sighing raggedly.

"Tamsin, I've only been gone for like twelve hours," Bo told her, "which granted, is longer than I had planned, but you know how these cases go. One thing always leads to another. Anyway, the point is that I saw you twelve hours ago, and you were still gorgeous."

Tamsin didn't say anything, choosing to simply grumble bitterly instead, so Bo sighed and walked over to the bed again. "Alright," the Succubus said, "that's it. I'm coming in."

"No, Bo, don't!" Tamsin tried to protest, but it was too late.

Bo jerked open the canopy, and her expression instantly morphed into one of shock, followed by one of confusion, followed by one of apprehension. "Um…" She didn't have a single clue how to address what she was seeing.

Tamsin was settled in a heap on the mattress in only a white tank top and panties. Her skin was extremely pale, pale enough that Bo could easily see the sprawling webs of her veins beneath the surface. The Valkyrie was hunched over in the middle of a large pile of feathers, her massive wings extended out of her back and drooping around her shoulders. She kept her head down so that Bo couldn't see her face, but it was clear from the rest of her that she felt positively miserable.

Bo's eyes scanned over her lover's back, her heart swelling at the sight of Tamsin's wings. They were a rare sight. Since Tamsin's rebirth, Bo had only seen the Valkyrie's wings on five different occasions, and every single time, their beauty left her breathless. They were stunning, much like the woman they were attached to.

In_ this_ moment, though, those brilliant wings weren't looking so hot. Lackluster and limp, they hung lifelessly around Tamsin's body, and Bo's concern spiked when she noticed several places of visible flesh with only fuzzy tufts of feather barely sticking through.

"These are _your _feathers," Bo breathed, a barely audible whisper, as she picked up several of the large feathers that covered the bed.

Tamsin nodded, appearing more defeated than Bo had seen her since the whole Wanderer debacle. "I told you," Tamsin whispered, her head hanging. "I'm ugly."

Bo dropped gently onto the bed in front of the Valkyrie, and reached out to take her hand. "Hey, no you're not. Don't say that."

Tamsin sniffled before letting go of Bo's hand to reach up under the waterfall of hair hiding her face and wipe her tears away almost violently. She huffed out a breath, annoyed with herself for being so emotional. "I look like shit," she snapped, "and I _feel _like shit."

"Tamsin," Bo said, reaching for her hand again, "what _is_ this? Are you sick? Are you…should I call Lauren or somebody? I'm worried."

Tamsin looked up at her then, and Bo startled a bit to see the Valkyrie's face full on. It was her true face, dark and sunken, almost skeletal, with eyes as black as night. She couldn't explain it, but Bo found this version of Tamsin's face just as beautiful. At this point, Bo was fairly positive that she would find any version of Tamsin stunning. Still, the Succubus quickly shielded her eyes, but Tamsin reached out and pulled her arm down.

"I'm not casting doubt on you," the blonde told her. "I just can't mask myself right now."

"Oh." Bo grimaced when she reached out to cup a hand around Tamsin's cheek and felt how cold the blonde was. "You're freezing," she hissed, shaking her head. She moved to get up from the bed. "I'm calling Lauren."

Tamsin grabbed her arm again and yanked her back down. "I'm fine," she said, squeezing Bo's arm and letting her head fall back down so that her hair cascaded around her face again.

"Yeah, okay," Bo drawled, "and I'm not a Succubus." She gently stroked a hand through Tamsin's hair then as she softened her voice to say, "You are _not _fine. You're freezing, your face has gone all fifty shades of gray, and your feathers are falling out. You're _sick, _babe. I'm calling Lauren."

"I'm not sick," Tamsin told her, sighing. "I'm molting."

Bo froze at that, her face scrunching and her mouth moving wordlessly for several seconds. "O-oh," she finally stammered out. "Um…like a bird?"

Tamsin practically growled out her response. "Yes, like a fucking bird!" It was bad enough that it was happening, but having to actually verbally compare herself to a bird was just embarrassing.

"Sorry, sorry," Bo said quickly, squeezing Tamsin's hand. She felt like she was walking on eggshells, unsure of how to properly react so as not to upset the blonde. It was surprising how sensitive Tamsin seemed to be in this moment, in this state, but Bo figured that that was just part of this…molting stuff or whatever. "I didn't mean…is this normal?"

Tamsin nodded as she reached up and swiped at her cheeks again. She huffed out a breath that made her hair jump forward before falling back to her face. "Once a Valkyrie gets her wings, she molts once a year."

"Okay, but that's a good thing, right?" Bo asked her, smiling softly as she squeezed Tamsin's hand. She couldn't help herself, because as miserable as her lover looked in this moment, Bo also found her incredibly cute when she was all frowny and frustrated. "You'll shed all your dead feathers and grow newer, healthier, prettier ones, right?"

"That doesn't mean I like it," Tamsin replied bitterly. "Everything I've ever heard from other Valkyries about molting has always made it sound like hell, and for good damn reason."

Bo chuckled, the sound only growing into a loud peal of laughter when Tamsin's face snapped up. "Are you glaring at me?" Bo asked her. "I can't tell. Everything is just dark."

Tamsin shoved Bo's shoulder as the Succubus continued laughing. "You're such a bitch."

"Oh, come on," Bo cooed, reaching out to tangle her fingers through Tamsin's. "I'm just teasing. How long does this molting stuff usually last?"

"I don't know," Tamsin told her, shrugging and hissing with the pain of the motion. Her wings felt too heavy and sore for such movement. "This is my first molt. A month? Maybe longer."

"A _month_?" Bo asked, eyes widening. "Damn."

"Hey," Tamsin huffed, "I have to shed _all _of my feathers and grow _new_ ones. It's not like it's easy."

Bo smiled tenderly at her and leaned forward to press her lips to the Valkyrie's blackened cheek. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Tamsin mumbled. "I'm just…I'm fucking emotional or hormonal or whatever."

"Is this why you've been so moody lately?" Bo asked her.

"I guess." Tamsin shrugged again and instantly regretted it. "It's like the Valkyrie version of a period."

Bo laughed out loud at that, but then her brows furrowed. "Wait," she said, "you don't have a period?"

Tamsin tried her trademark deadpan stare, but it lost its effect given that her eyes were currently incapable of expression. "Really, Bo?" she drawled. "You've been living with me for over a year and you've _never _noticed my lack of a period?"

Bo's expression was hilarious, part-wonder, part-confusion. "But you buy tampons," she argued, and Tamsin chuckled.

"Yeah, for _you_, dipshit," the Valkyrie countered, squeezing Bo's hand as she laughed.

"Wow," Bo said after gaping a moment longer. "Lucky you."

"Yeah, not so much anymore," Tamsin grumbled, pointing to her wings. They laughed softly together. It wasn't much, but it eased Tamsin's ache, and the more she laughed, the calmer she became. As she calmed, her face slowly began to change.

Her dark, sunken cheeks filled out and slowly regained their natural color. The black in her eyes seeped away, lightening until all that remained were those ever-changing pale irises, sometimes blue, sometimes green, sometimes gray, that Bo had fallen in love with.

Bo's heart fluttered wildly beneath her ribs as she smiled at the blonde. "There you are," she whispered, reaching out to dust her fingertips over Tamsin's cheek.

Tamsin sighed and leaned into the touch. "Thank you."

Bo simply nodded. "We'll get through it, Tam." She leaned forward to gently press her lips to the Valkyrie's. "We always do."


	2. Chapter 2

Much to Tamsin's dismay, Bo had waited all of seven minutes to sneak away and call Lauren. Tamsin hadn't had a clue, and then the next thing she knew, Bo was shoveling a forkful of lo mein down her throat while the good doctor shoved a needle the length of Kenzi's standard heels into her vein. Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration, but Tamsin found it to be a fair one.

She was an emotional wreck, she felt horrible, and on top of that, she had been ambushed; thus, she could think whatever the hell she wanted to think.

"I hate both of you," she mumbled around a mouthful of Chinese food.

Bo tried to smile at her, but the expression, instead, hovered somewhere between a guilt-ridden grimace and an amused smirk. Tamsin glared at it.

Lauren seemed not to even hear the Valkyrie. "Fascinating," she muttered to herself, her eyes scanning over Tamsin's wings even as her hands went about drawing several vials of blood. "Simply fascinating."

"It's going to be _fascinating_ when I cast so much doubt on the two of you that you can't even remember your names," Tamsin bit out, and Bo merely chuckled.

"Aw," the Succubus teased, pinching Tamsin's side tenderly, "you're so cute when you're trying to be scary and threatening." She hovered the fork in front of the Valkyrie's face. "Now open."

Tamsin's eyes narrowed. Her jaw worked back and forth as if she was fighting the urge to fire off another bitchy remark, but Bo's tender gaze, somehow filled with both concern and mirth, had Tamsin swallowing back the bitter words and simply opening her mouth wide. She swallowed a massive chunk of sesame chicken just as Lauren was taping a cotton ball to her inner elbow.

"All done," the doctor told her, offering her a small, tight smile.

Tamsin nodded her acceptance and made to lean back against the headboard. Her body jolted, though, and a sharp hiss escaped through her lips when her wings smashed against the wood. She jerked forward again and bit into her bottom lip to keep from letting out a harsh sob. Her eyes stung with tears as she hung her head forward and let them well up before blinking them back.

She didn't even realize that she was holding Bo's hand in a death grip until she felt the brunette's thumb swipe lovingly across the back of her hand. "You're okay," Bo whispered before turning to Lauren, who was busy packing the vials of blood she had just drawn into her medical case.

"She _is_ okay, right?" she asked, needing to hear the doctor's verbal reassurance.

Lauren nodded. "She is." She placed a comforting hand on Bo's shoulder. "It's going to be an unpleasant experience, but it's a natural one for a Valkyrie in her last life. I'll run some tests on her blood to make sure everything looks normal, but I'm quite sure that she is just fine."

"Yeah," Tamsin growled, "just fine and _fascinating._"

Lauren chuckled. "That too." She reached down and scooped up a few feathers from the top of the bed. "I would like to take a few of your feathers in for testing. There isn't much in the database on Valkyries, and I would love to expand on what little we _do_ have."

Tamsin rolled her eyes even as Bo grinned up at the doctor. "Sure, whatever," the Valkyrie replied. "Take as many as you want. Blow on them and make wishes. Stuff a pillow. No one cares."

Bo grimaced. "Sorry," she mumbled to Lauren. "This molting business has got her in a pretty foul mood."

"That's understandable," Lauren replied easily. "It isn't a walk in the park, and it will likely last quite a while, so buckle in."

Bo nodded. "But we just ride it out, right?" she asked. "I mean, there's nothing special we need to do or…I don't know, _not _do?"

"Just a few rules," Lauren told them, reaching out to lightly tap Tamsin's exposed knee.

Tamsin rolled her eyes yet again. "Great. Rules," she drawled bitterly. "I love rules. Yay rules. Bring on the rules."

Lauren shook her head even as she smiled. She felt for the Valkyrie. Molting was a truly miserable experience for many animals, let alone an actual person who just so happened to also have wings. She could only imagine.

"Good, because first and foremost is that you need to try to maintain a normal diet," Lauren told her. "You may feel like you have little-to-no appetite at times, but you need to eat, and you need to remain hydrated. No skipping meals, and make sure you get plenty of fluids."

"Well, I have a feeling that Succuworry over here is going to be shoveling food down my throat all month, so no worries on that front."

Bo smacked her arm. "Excuse me," the brunette countered. "I'm keeping you _healthy_, thank you very much."

Tamsin sighed. "Next."

"Stay warm," Lauren told her. "You feel cold because your wings, despite being out of sight the majority of the time, are part of your natural insulation now that you have them. As your feathers fall out, you will be more vulnerable to the cold. So, keep warm, because your immune system is weak right now and that makes you vulnerable to infection."

Bo winked at the Valkyrie. "Got that covered."

Tamsin snorted derisively. "Succubi," she muttered, shaking her head.

Bo just laughed and poked her. "You love me."

Clearing her throat, Lauren pushed through the soft moment of affection and right on to the last rule. Bo had been with Tamsin for quite some time now, but seeing them together and so obviously in love despite how they teased one another was never entirely easy. There was always a pang of envy, of sorrow, but that was simply the way of things now. A lot had changed after the losses they all had suffered.

A lot.

Bo had closed many doors, and she had opened new ones. She had struggled to let go of her past, to stop clinging to things that always seemed to run the same circular course no matter how desperately she wanted to charter new territories on the same old tracks. She had had to let go and move forward into something new, something perhaps altogether better.

She and Tamsin held one another up in the rubble of all that had crumbled around them. They grew together in the darkness. They paved a new path together toward the light. They taught one another how to feel joy again.

Somehow, in the midst of all things torn and tattered, Bo and Tamsin had managed to weave together and create something whole and powerful and indescribably beautiful.

"Lastly," Lauren said, now feeling slightly uncomfortable, "no plucking."

Tamsin's face instantly scrunched with her disdain for this rule. "But—"

"No buts," Lauren interjected, cutting her off, "and absolutely _no_ plucking, and no scratching. You will only hurt yourself and possibly damage your wings in the process."

Tamsin grumbled her discontent. She huffed out loud sighs of frustration and rolled her eyes at the empty space of the bedroom air as Bo walked Lauren to the door and thanked her for coming. She scoffed at Bo's tender smile when the brunette returned with a large bottle of water and a small bowl of egg-drop soup.

With her body aching, her head throbbing, her back itching, and her emotions running wild, Tamsin found that, in that moment, she positively hated the entire fucking world.

But she loved that damn Succubus.

* * *

><p>The first two weeks of Tamsin's molt were utter hell.<p>

She and Bo bitched at one another. They pushed one another's buttons. Tamsin griped and Bo lectured. Tamsin rolled her eyes and Bo sighed so deeply that Tamsin felt it in her tender bones. Tamsin cursed the world and Bo cursed Tamsin.

Those were the worst of times when Bo's fuse burned to its end and she lashed out. Tamsin couldn't really blame her. She knew she was being positively insufferable.

But in the best of times, Bo was patient. She wasn't always gentle, but she was patient, and then other times she was so damn sweet that it practically gave Tamsin a toothache.

Tamsin whined and Bo rocked back and forth between comforting her and teasingly telling her to get over herself. Tamsin cried a few times and Bo did her best to hold her without pressing painfully into her wings. Tamsin struggled to sleep, unable to get comfortable, and Bo spent thirty minutes building a fortress of pillows around the Valkyrie's wings just to cushion them better. Tamsin woke freezing at times, and Bo would stroke the inside of her wrist, sending waves of warmth into her body.

Their care for one another was evident in their expression, whether physical or verbal or a combination of the two. Even when they were vicious, they were somehow tender. And when they were soft, they were practically one person. They were close. Secure.

They were forever.

They had never said it aloud to one another, but both felt it. Both knew it so intimately that it was plain fact. It didn't need verbal validation. It was as true as what they were.

A Succubus and a Valkyrie.

Rare, unique, special, astonishing, and very much real.

* * *

><p>Bo lay on the very edge of the bed, afraid of scooting too near Tamsin. She didn't want to risk rolling onto one of the blonde's wings and cause her any extra pain. So, for the last two weeks, she had been sleeping on the edge of the bed, as far to her side as she could get without falling off. It was ridiculous, honestly, but Tamsin had strongly objected when Bo had offered up the idea of sleeping on the couch while Tamsin remained in their bed.<p>

"Bo?"

It was quiet, a gentle whisper. Bo was accustomed to it after nearly a full year of sleeping with the Valkyrie. Tamsin sometimes just called out to her in her sleep, a need for comfort, for reassurance that the brunette was there, that she was always there.

And she always was.

Bo shushed her as she reached carefully under Tamsin's wing to the blonde's arm. It lay at an awkward angle as Tamsin slept on her stomach. She squeezed Tamsin's hand. "I'm here," she whispered into the darkness, and she smiled when she felt Tamsin tug on her arm to pull her closer.

One massive ragged wing, fluttered up into the air and stretched outward before settling back down and curling tenderly around Bo's body.

Tamsin hummed her approval, still settled comfortably within the deep haze of sleep.

* * *

><p>"Stop that."<p>

Tamsin huffed, annoyed. "Stop _what_?"

"You know what," Bo drawled, shooting her a look that was all lectures and no fun.

Tamsin lazily paced the length of the living room, glad to be out of bed for at least a few hours. Her wings drooped so heavily around her shoulders that their ends dragged along the floor, leaving feathers in their wake. She reached back every few seconds to dig at a spot on one of her wings. As much as the digging hurt, it also felt like pure sex—sating a need she felt so intensely that she could cry; the need to scratch until she bled.

"You don't understand," she whined.

Bo sat on the couch, flipping through some magazine she didn't really care about, but she was bored, so it would do. "Don't understand what?"

"That molting is w—"

"War on your body," Bo finished for her dryly.

Tamsin glared at her. "Yeah," she snapped. "It's worse than the time I—"

"Than the time you took cover in the woods during the Civil War and accidentally hid in a massive bush of poison ivy," Bo finished for her again.

The set of Tamsin's jaw was tight and rigid. Her glare was murderous. Her sigh was so long and heavy that Bo could've sworn it was dragging the ground along with Tamsin's wings. "It's worse than the time A—"

Bo smirked as she interjected again. "Acacia convinced one of the younger Valkyries to put fire ants in your bed."

Tamsin growled at the Succubus, but Bo merely chuckled. "I know, Tamsin. You've told me all these things a thousand times in the last two weeks. I get it. Molting sucks, but you're just going to have to deal with it. So, as a wise woman once told me, _suck it up._"

"You only get to throw my own words back at me when you can actually _relate_," Tamsin countered bitterly. "And until you're itching like demon fleas just crawled inside your skin and had babies, you can't _possibly_ relate."

"Well, that _does _sound unpleasant," Bo replied, flipping another page in the magazine, "but you heard Lauren. No plucking and no scratching."

Tamsin cracked her knuckles to occupy her hands and keep from scratching as she continued to pace, mumbling angrily under her breath the entire time. She could only roll her eyes when Bo barely managed a full minute of silence before she began lecturing again.

"Besides, you don't want to scar," the Succubus told her.

"What are you talking about?" Tamsin asked her. "Lauren didn't say anything about scarring."

Bo tossed the magazine aside and turned on the couch to look back at her lover. "Yeah, but it's just common sense, right?" she replied. "If chicken pox are scratched, they leave scars, so I figured it's probably the same general idea, right?"

Tamsin's face scrunched with a mixture of confusion and disgust. "I'm not a fucking chicken, Bo!" she exclaimed, throwing up a hand.

Bo laughed out loud at that, hard enough that it took her several seconds before she could respond clearly. "Chickens don't get chicken pox," she told the blonde, grinning. She barely held in another wave of laughter as she then joked, "but you know, you _are _molting…and chickens definitely do that."

She cackled as she ducked to avoid the random item Tamsin found to chunk at her head. It was a squeaky stress ball that they kept on the desk by the laptop. It squeaked as it smacked into the wall before bouncing to the floor.

When Bo popped back up, a brilliant smile on her face, Tamsin tried to glare at her. Instead, though, and completely unbidden, she laughed.

"I don't know why I put up with you," the Valkyrie huffed out around her laughter.

Bo rested her head on her arms atop the back of the couch as she beamed up at her girlfriend. "Because I'm the girl with the anti-itch cream," she replied. She chuckled as she held up the little white and blue tube of ointment and danced it across the back of the couch.

Tamsin practically leapt over the couch to get to it. Bo laughed and kissed every itchy spot before applying the cream.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here is the final chapter of this little three-shot. Thank you for reading and reviewing! XO-Chrmdpoet**

* * *

><p>"Ugh, no." Tamsin shook her head and pushed the plate across the table. "I'm not hungry."<p>

Bo scooted the plate back toward Tamsin. "Well, you need to eat."

Rolling her eyes, Tamsin pushed the plate back again. "I _can't _eat, Bo," she drawled. "I'm _not_ _hungry_."

Bo sighed as she came around the table and pressed the back of her hand to Tamsin's forehead. "You said your appetite was coming back."

Tamsin grumbled and leaned into Bo's body, snuggling against her lover. "Yeah, well, that was yesterday," she replied dryly. "And stop feeling my forehead. I don't have the flu. I'm molting, and besides, we both know you have no idea how to tell if I have a fever or not."

"It's not my fault that I run naturally hot," Bo told her, rubbing a hand slowly up and down the back of Tamsin's neck. The blonde's large wings fluttered slightly with each stroke, and Bo smiled softly at the sight. She was glad that at least _some _of Tamsin's tenderness had subsided, and she could now touch the Valkyrie near her wings without it causing tremendous pain.

"And it's not _my _fault that I have no appetite," Tamsin countered, and Bo chuckled as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to soft blonde hair.

"Nice try, Tammy," Bo teased, gently poking Tamsin's side, "but you still need to eat a little something."

She reached for the plate on the table and picked a grape from a small pile of fruit. "Come on," she said as she hovered the grape in front of Tamsin's face.

Tamsin's face scrunched with her displeasure, her head already shaking back and forth. "No," she whined, pushing Bo's hand away.

"Really?" Bo drawled. "It's a grape. You can eat a grape, Tamsin." She held the fruit up again and pressed it to Tamsin's lips.

The Valkyrie instantly jerked back. "Gods, Bo, why don't you just shove it down my throat?!"

"Oh, right, Tamsin," Bo replied dryly, sighing as she watched the blonde slip off her stool before marching angrily toward the stairs, "I forgot that you're just _so_ _terribly mistreated_."

Tamsin turned around at the bottom of the stairs just to shoot the brunette a nasty glare. It did nothing but encourage Bo's taunting.

"Man," the Succubus drawled, "it must be _so _awful to have someone caring for you night and day and making sure that you're comfortable and healthy and pain-free no matter how moody and whiny you are. That just sounds like hell. I mean, honestly, thank Fae I don't have to put up with something like that."

Tamsin's glare intensified. "I miss Kenzi," she grumbled.

The words knocked the wind right out of Bo. Hearing Kenzi's name always had that effect on her. It had a similar effect on Tamsin, but in the last few months, they'd agreed to try to talk about her more. It hurt. It always hurt, but it was good too.

Hearing her name was a sort of painful pleasure. Her face would flash through their minds. Her voice would dance in their memories, both hilarious and heartbreaking. It healed as much as it hurt.

Bo pushed through the shockwave that the name always sent spiraling through her system. She cleared her throat as she locked gazes with Tamsin and forced out a soft chuckle. "You think Kenzi would coddle your whiny, stingy ass?"

"Well, she wouldn't shove food down my throat."

"No, you're right. She wouldn't," Bo agreed. "She'd just use your feathers to make a boa while singing every song about birds that she could think of every time you walked into the room." She laughed softly before adding, "_Loudly._"

Tamsin tried not to smile at the remark, but the truth in it was too much. Her lips quirked up and her eyes stung with tears even as she fought back the wave of laughter that threatened to bubble up from deep in her chest. And when Bo teasingly began to sing to her, voice cracking softly with the lines, Tamsin closed her eyes and could almost see Kenzi there, belting them out with the biggest shit-eating grin imaginable plastered across her face.

"If I can see it, then I can do it," Bo sang, slowly making her way toward Tamsin. "If I just believe it, there's nothing to it." She grabbed Tamsin's hand when she reached her and pulled the Valkyrie back into the center of the room. She carefully spun her around as she loudly and dramatically sang out the chorus. "I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. I think about it every night and day." She laughed through the next line as Tamsin rolled her eyes, smiling and twirling under Bo's arm. "Spread my wings and fly away."

"Okay, okay," Tamsin chuckled, pulling Bo in close. She pressed a gentle kiss to the line of the Succubus's jaw. "That's enough of that."

Bo grinned, carefully slipping her arms around Tamsin so that they rested just under the blonde's wings. "Oh come on," she said quietly, kissing Tamsin's cheek, "you don't wanna spread your wings and fly away?"

Tamsin pinched Bo's side playfully as she shook her head back and forth. She lowered her voice to a whisper, her words skirting across Bo's lips in gentle puffs of air. "I'm not going anywhere, Succubus."

"Good." Bo pecked her lips again and then seemingly produced a grape out of nowhere and held it up to Tamsin's mouth. "Now eat this grape."

"Dude," Tamsin deadpanned, her expression matching her voice, "have you been hiding that grape in your pocket this whole time just so that you could try to force it down my throat again?"

Bo grinned wickedly. "Maybe."

"Cute," Tamsin drawled. "Now get it out of my face."

"It will disappear quickly if you just eat it," Bo told her, dancing it around in front of the Valkyrie's face again.

"Or I could just shove it up your ass, Bo," Tamsin grumbled. "See how much you like that."

Bo chuckled. "I'm all for getting kinky, babe," she replied, "but that's a little much, even for me."

Tamsin couldn't help the laugh that escaped her even as she rolled her eyes for what felt like the seven hundredth time that afternoon and leaned forward to wrap her lips around Bo's fingers. She sucked the grape into her mouth and chomped on it, smacking obnoxiously as she chewed. Once she swallowed, she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue as far out as possible to show Bo that she had finally eaten the grape.

"Happy now, _Mother_?" the Valkyrie asked dryly.

Bo gently clutched Tamsin's chin as she pulled the blonde in for a soft kiss. "Very."

* * *

><p>Tamsin shivered as Bo's soapy hands slithered up the length of her right calf, a washcloth wrapped around one hand.<p>

"Is it warm enough?"

"Mm," Tamsin hummed, nodding when her lover glanced up at her. "Feels good."

Bo smiled tenderly. "_You _feel good," she replied as she washed the Valkyrie.

Tamsin stood on a towel next to the bathtub. She was naked as the day she was born, and she was slightly shivering from the exposure, but this was the only way she could bathe. She couldn't actually take a bath or shower because she couldn't retract her wings until she finished her molt, and she couldn't get her wings wet because the weight of the water was too painful to withstand. Thus, Bo had taken to giving her sponge baths each night.

Tamsin originally thought it would be embarrassing, but it wasn't. Neither she nor Bo had ever been terribly shy where nudity was concerned, so that wasn't an issue. It was more that Tamsin thought she would feel helpless, an invalid who couldn't even manage to clean herself, but the experience had actually turned out to be one that Tamsin cherished. Seeing the way Bo cared for her, the tender touches and the gentle kisses pressed to her knees and thighs and hips and every climbing inch, left Tamsin breathless.

Not once in her many lifetimes had Tamsin ever been as thoroughly loved as she was by this woman. Bo cherished her, truly.

"Oh I do, do I?" Tamsin asked, grinning down at her lover.

Bo washed up the length of Tamsin's thigh and around to her backside. As she slipped the washcloth over goose-pimpled flesh, Bo nuzzled her nose against the soft curls at the apex of Tamsin's thighs. "Mm," she hummed, nodding in answer.

Tamsin's eyes fluttered closed at the sensation of Bo's heated breath puffing against her sensitive flesh. "Well, I guess that would explain why my Succunurse is currently copping a feel in the middle of my bath," she joked, and Bo laughed out loud, the sound vibrating against Tamsin's skin in ways that made the Valkyrie shiver.

Bo hadn't even realized that her right hand had taken to kneading the soft flesh of Tamsin's ass. "Oops," she laughed out as she leaned up and pressed a kiss just beneath the blonde's belly-button. "Guess it's been a while."

"Yeah," Tamsin sighed, running a hand through Bo's soft brown hair. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, what did I tell you about apologizing?" Bo scolded. She rose to her feet and cradled one soapy hand around Tamsin's cheek. "You don't need to be sorry. I don't expect you to want to have sex when you feel like crap, babe, and I wouldn't ever ask you to. Besides, it's not like you haven't still been feeding me. We just haven't had sex. It's not a big deal."

Guilt pulsed in Tamsin's chest. She hated the feeling, because it was true that it wasn't a big deal, but she still felt bad. Sex was such an integral part of who Bo was and how she operated, and before Tamsin began her molt, she and Bo had rarely gone a day without it, and now? Now, they'd gone three full weeks without it, and even though Bo still fed off her chi, Tamsin could tell that the Succubus was aching for more.

Bo could see the guilt swirling in Tamsin's light eyes. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the Valkyrie's lips. "Hey," she whispered. "Stop."

Tamsin sighed and leaned into Bo's touch. "Stop what?"

"Stop overthinking it," Bo told her. "Stop feeling guilty. There's not some sex quota you have to meet in order for me to love you or in order for me to want to be with you. I'm _with_ you, Tamsin. Even if we were never able to have sex again, I'd be with you."

Tamsin snorted at that even as her eyes stung. "You would die."

"Yeah," Bo whispered, shrugging a shoulder, "but I'd be with you."

Tamsin huffed out an annoyed breath as she reached up to swipe at an escaped tear. "Gods, why do you always have to turn me into a pile of emotional mush? It's disgusting."

Bo laughed quietly against Tamsin's lips as she pressed several quick kisses there. "I think it's cute."

"That's just it," Tamsin told her, slipping her arms around Bo's sides and pulling her closer. "I'm a Valkyrie. I'm not supposed to be cute. I'm supposed to be a badass."

"Why can't you just be a really _cute_ badass?"

Tamsin stared at her a long moment before shrugging. "Good point." She then pulled the Succubus in for another tender kiss. It lasted longer than either intended, quickly growing deep and hot.

"Continuing to wait isn't going to be easy if you keep kissing me like that," Bo chuckled, and Tamsin didn't say a word. She, instead, dove forward again to suck the brunette's lip between her teeth.

Bo moaned softly against Tamsin's lips and the sound ignited a fire in the Valkyrie's gut. "You know, I'm not so sore anymore," she whispered when their lips parted again.

Breathlessly, Bo asked, "Really?"

"Really," Tamsin confirmed, deliberately fluttering her wings. It stung but not so much that it wasn't bearable.

Concern flashed over Bo's expression. "I don't know," she told the blonde. "Maybe we should wait a few more days. I don't want to hurt you."

Tamsin sighed and pulled Bo's hand between her legs. "I don't care if it hurts," she whispered. "I miss you."

Bo groaned as her hand made sweet contact. "Tamsin…"

The Valkyrie responded by pulling Bo's shirt off and tossing it to the bathroom floor. Bo's caution fell away when Tamsin's mouth made contact with her chest, nimble fingers pulling at her flesh and setting her body ablaze.

* * *

><p>Thirty-six days after the first of Tamsin's molt, Bo woke alone in their bed. She yawned sleepily as her hand slipped across the mattress, seeking the warmth of her lover's body. When she was met with cold, empty sheets, Bo jerked up in bed and glanced quickly around.<p>

"Tamsin?" she called, thinking maybe the Valkyrie had gotten up to use the bathroom.

No answer.

Bo slipped out of bed and pulled on her robe. She quickly trotted down the stairs but froze once she stepped into the living room. "Tamsin," she said breathlessly, staring into the kitchen.

Tamsin, sitting topless in boy-shorts at the kitchen table, turned at the sound of Bo's voice and smiled brightly at the Succubus. She sucked the milk off her spoon before dropping the utensil back into her cereal bowl. "Hi," she greeted softly.

Her face was full and bright, her flesh having fully regained its color. Her hair was brighter than even the day before, and her entire body seemed to glow with health and renewal. She was stunning.

Bo gaped at her, taking a few steps forward. "You look…wow." Her brows then furrowed as her gaze darted back and forth between Tamsin's eyes and Tamsin's back. "Your wings…?"

"Gone," Tamsin told her, rising from the stool she was seated on and making her way over to the Succubus. "Well, not _gone, _but you know what I mean. They're not sticking out of my back, being a pain in my ass anymore." She chuckled and pulled Bo flush against her.

Bo slipped her hands around Tamsin's body and ran them down the length of the blonde's back. "So, you're done molting?"

Tamsin leaned in to press a soft kiss to the brunette's lips. "I'm done molting," she confirmed with a short nod.

"Gee, don't look so disappointed," Tamsin chuckled when Bo's face only scrunched further.

Bo laughed and shook her head as she brought her hands around to cup Tamsin's cheeks. "Sorry," she told the blonde, kissing her. "I'd just gotten used to seeing you with wings. It's kind of weird to see you without them again."

"Well," Tamsin said, grinning, "I can always just…" Her massive, brilliant wings suddenly burst out of her back and fluttered beautifully around them. "Do _that_," she finished, chuckling.

Bo gaped at the wings. "Wow," she whispered as she took in the sight of them. They were lustrous and fuller than she had ever seen them. When they fluttered down and folded gently atop Tamsin's back, Bo slipped around to run her hands gently over the feathers. Soft and strong, they quivered beautifully beneath Bo's touch.

"Nice, right?" Tamsin asked, grinning at Bo over her shoulder.

"Uh, _yeah_," Bo told her, still petting the large wings. "Molting is like some next-level conditioner and moisturizer all packed into one."

Tamsin laughed out loud at that, slowly retracting her wings once more before turning and pulling the Succubus into her arms again. "Yeah, all packed into one hellish month."

Bo kissed her, her soft laughter vibrating against Tamsin's teeth. "It wasn't so bad."

"No?" Tamsin asked her, arching a brow. "So you're looking forward to doing it all over again next year?"

Bo sucked in a hissing breath as Tamsin laughed at her. "Okay, so maybe it was a _little _hellish."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Tamsin said. Her eyes were soft and sincere as she stroked her fingers over Bo's cheek. "Sorry I was such a nightmare."

Bo laughed sweetly against her lips. "You can make it up to me."

Tamsin's grin was a delicious promise. "Oh I intend to."


End file.
